Silencing Women

"There is in the entirety of the New Testament no evidence for the subordination of women that is practiced in many of our churches today and certainly not sufficient evidence for men to rule out the validity of women's calls to minister the Word of God. When men claim that God has called them, we do not question their call, if their lives and ministry bear witness to that claim. When women claim that God has called them, we ought to evaluate their calls on the same terms. If we judge other people's calls on the basis of a narrow and ill-considered interpretation of several texts, ignoring the clear examples of other texts, we may succeed only in silencing some of God's servants needed for our generation. And if we do that, we invite God to pass judgment on our own call as interpreters of God's Word."

The Rev. Craig Keener, Ph.D., "Paul, Women and Wives," Hendrickson Publishers, 1991